I Refuse To Fear!

I do admit that I have struggled with many areas of sin in my life, and just when I think one battle has been conquered, another one seems to begin.  I’ve never considered myself to be a fearful person, but over the last few weeks I’ve had a battle raging inside my heart.  To my surprise, God has been revealing to me that I actually do tend to doubt Him in some situations and neglect to always fully trust Him no matter what. There has been a spiritual conflict, a tug of war between gripping fear and total trust which has been consuming my mind and thoughts continually.

The Sovereign One continues to faithfully whisper, “Will you be anxious for the future or will you completely trust in Me to ‘work all things together for your good’ like I have promised?”  The choice is entirely mine.  I must decide for myself where I will place my dependence and whether or not I will place my confidence and hope in God for every single area of my life.   Will I choose to waiver in my faith which only leads to anxiety or will I come to the place of total reliance on the God who knows ALL?

The truth about fear is that it’s always based on a lie we choose to believe from our enemy.  If Satan can strike us with unrelenting fear and get us to focus on our anxiety, we will not concentrate on the truth.  The truth is found in the Awesome Words of Our God when He tells us in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”  A dear friend of mine reminded me of this verse recently and it has comforted and encouraged me to keep my mind meditating on God and His Word.  Fear never brings peace to our soul.  Part of our Enemy’s strategic battle plan is to use our fears to disable us and keep us from exercising faith that God can and will accomplish the impossible in our lives.  Fear and anxiety only hold us captive but truth always allows us to live in freedom.

If we ‘say’ we love God and trust Him, then where in the world does all of this fear come from?  Many fears that we may have could stem from our childhood or experiences that we’ve gone through in the past.  Some people are frightened of rejection from others and are highly concerned about what others may think of us.  Some struggle with the possibility of total failure in the things we attempt to accomplish in this life.  Others may fear being left alone or even may be frightened of evil.  I do know from experience however that many people have anxiety about the unknown future.  There are hundreds of possible scenarios of terrible situations that we are afraid of that we often replay over again in our minds;  but no matter WHAT fear Satan tempts us with we must remember that God is not only our Creator, He is also our Sustainer.  Our Sustainer will ALWAYS take care of us and meet our every need.

Whatever our fears may be, it is a result of not believing the promises of God to take care of His children in a very special way.  Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 6:26 & 33, “Behold the birds of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  You seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and ALL of these things will be added to you.”  When we choose not to believe what God has told us is truth and doubt Him, we are essentially calling God a liar.  The choice is ours, will we believe what Jesus said or will we choose to live in unbelief and be plagued and tormented by unnecessary and unsubstantiated fear? 
I’ve had to come to the point of making this important decision once again in these past few weeks.  Will I place my total dependence in the Sovereign One or will I live a life tortured by my fears? 

 Recently we have learned that due to many changes in my husband’s company, he will no longer have a job next month.  After ten years of hard work and service, he will not be employed in his current position and they are not promising to find another role for him to fill within the company.  When you hear this kind of news, Satan receives great satisfaction in seeing us being stricken by feelings of fear about our future.  It comes down to whether or not I will put my confidence in my husband’s good income to meet our financial needs or place my trust in the One who owns everything and whose resources are unlimited.

Oh how it surely grieves our sovereign Father when His children do not trust Him to provide for us in ALL things, both big and small!  You see, there is absolutely no one who loves us more than our heavenly Father loves His children.  Would we as parents desire to witness our own children crying and worrying about their future when our track record has shown that we’ve always taken great care of them?  Our deep love and concern for our sons and daughters should be proof that we would never abandon them or leave them to fend for themselves especially during times of great need. We are reminded of this truth in Hebrews 13:6, “…I will NEVER leave you or forsake you.”  Neither will our God ever desert His dear children particularly when He greatly desires to display His awesome and mighty power in our lives.

Once again, I’ve been taken to the spiritual wood shed.  I must admit that it’s never fun going there! The question is will I finally learn my lesson this time?  I’ve been broken once more before my God concerning this area of anxiety and fear.   No more tossing and turning every night!  No more lump in my throat or pit in the bottom of my stomach!  I will no longer allow Satan to have free reign to wreak havoc on my soul!  I have finally confessed my fears and anxieties about the future to Him.  In my mind, I realize that God is God and He already KNOWS that I fail to place my dependence on Him completely in EVERY area, but He desires me to humble myself at His feet and simply admit that I have sinned. I have shed many tears and sorrowed over my sin of being anxious in the past few weeks over the fact that I’ve been SO wrong to doubt my Creator.
 
We trust God completely for our salvation from an eternity of torment in Hell, but I can’t seem to rely on Him to handle our circumstances here on earth?  It makes no sense whatsoever to believe this lie!  And that’s exactly what it is, a lie from pit of Hell and authored by the Father of Lies himself.  I choose not to believe the lies anymore!  I will continue to quote the Truth of Scripture to replace the lies of my greatest enemy.   

 The key to freedom from worry, fear and anxiety is found clearly in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for NOTHING, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made know to God;  and the PEACE of God which surpasses ALL understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  A very wise friend of mine who's also been learning a lot about the sovereignty of God, assured me that she would be praying for us during this time.  She also asked me if we had thanked God yet for allowing Richard to lose His job which was a great reminder of these verses in Philippians.  Thanking God for allowing us to go through hard times may sound crazy to most people, but it is exactly the place where we must come to in order to possess peace in the storm.  We MUST thank God for what HE sovereignly allows to happen for our good, then God’s peace that we cannot even explain will surround and guard our hearts through those trials.

Is this concept of struggling with fear and anxiety totally foreign to you?  I hope so, but if you are anything like me, you must continually realize that God is on the throne and we must trust Him to work out our good for His glory in every situation. God does not want His children to waste on minute on worrying about anything, but rather desires for us to bring our concerns to Him.”  May we rest completely in the sovereign workings of our Holy God and trust Him to work the impossible in and through us no matter what our circumstances may be.